


The Most Beautiful Shade of Green

by samsquared



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Soulmates AU, USUKDTWeek2016, coffee shop au is so cliche, just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 07:06:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6744394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samsquared/pseuds/samsquared
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur is getting older and lonelier and the world just gets greyer and greyer. And it fits: who would fall in love with a grumpy old Englishman?</p><p>written for usukdtweek 2016, day 2: soulmates au</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Most Beautiful Shade of Green

The world was grey to Arthur.  
Quite literally. 

He woke up and the sky was black. He poured his tea and it was black. He ran his bath water and it was just a step up from black.  
Television was black, trolleys were black, ice cream was black. The only light he saw was the sun and in people’s eyes and even then, sometimes, others’ eyes lacked the distinct spark of life.

Things had been like this as long as he could remember. They would probably stay like this until he started to forget how to remember.  
His brothers were all married, his sister was dating. His mum had given up hope at twenty-five and now Arthur was twenty-eight. 

His mum had always said to him when he was a child that his eyes were the most beautiful shade of green. Deep, but flickering with the golden flame of feisty youth. She always loved them most. Arthur sighed dolefully. 

He was convinced he would never see colour.  
He would never see the sky as being blue, white, sometimes purple and pink and orange. He would never see the plants as being green and brown and sometimes the rainbow. That electric fire that everyone described when they touched their soulmate would never flicker between his hand and someone else’s. 

He had touched so many men, and wondering if maybe the problem was with men, so many more women. Maybe he was destined to find his soulmate by touching different body parts? He was far past virginity at this point in that futile pursuit.  
The problem, he found, was with him. 

“Now that is surely not the case, Arthur,” his friend Kiku said. On this particular afternoon, Arthur had invited Kiku over for tea after work. They sipped their cups in tandem.  
Kiku was slightly older than him and had the same problem. And the two of them were not soulmates. Arthur had checked multiple times.

Kiku was the one who convinced Arthur to quit sleeping around. Through constant sheer exposure to his calm and prudent nature, Arthur found it almost impossible to keep up his, frankly, embarrassingly desperate ways. Plus, a wreck of his old sexual partners had already found their soulmates and settled down.

Arthur sighed. He knew that finding your soulmate wasn’t an experience that had to be unlocked, persay, it just happened. No amount of intercourse would change destiny.

He knew that, but…  
For Arthur, the only bit of colour he saw was in the heat of sex. As his eyes bleared over before release, he felt as if he could see red or pink, or what he thought it might look like. He could see the brilliant blue or brown or hazel of the lover’s eyes just for a split second. 

Kiku was giving him that pitying look again.

“Stop that, it makes it much harder to confess my feelings, you know,” Arthur scoffed bashfully.

“I just think that it isn’t fair that a romantic like you is stuck like an ODAWAS,” Kiku said softly and sipped again at his tea.

“A what?”

“Older, Dying, and Without a Soulmate. ODAWAS.”  
The wind chimes filled the silence in the background.

Well, at least Arthur could bloody hear even if he was old and dying and would never find his soulmate.

“I met a younger man a few weeks ago. He hasn’t found his soulmate yet, either, but he has a bright outlook that only children seem to have these days.” A seemingly polite change of topic.

“Well some of us have to,” Arthur grumbled, stirring his tea with a half-hearted flourish. “How old is the little bugger?”

“Twenty-four.” Kiku raised his eyebrows pointedly. “Within your age range.” 

Arthur swallowed. Suddenly, the ulterior motives were clear. “Are you saying that I should pursue casual sex with this boy?”

“He’s your type. I think you deserve it. You’ve been about three months dry and you are craving it. After weaning your addiction, the next step is moderation, Arthur,” Kiku explained casually, and for some reason, Arthur felt more like he was getting permission from his mother than advice from his friend.

Nevertheless, Kiku gave him the address to this coffee shop that this apparently gorgeous young man was working at and Arthur dared to make an appearance.  
Now, normally Arthur hated coffee. Even the smell made him gag a little. 

But upon seeing the man at the front of the store wiping the counters dutifully give him a big bright smile, Arthur saw this trip was absolutely worth it.

Though Arthur’s world was colourless, if Arthur had to somehow quantify what color might be it would be this guy. 

“Hi, how can I help you?” 

The light in his eyes flickered with that mischievous fire of youth that Arthur might have lost. The sunlight seemed to gravitate towards him, and even though there was no way in hell that someone this perfect could ever be Arthur’s soulmate, that may not stop Arthur from having a tiny crush on him. He didn’t know what red was, but his face was surely flushing. He didn’t know what blue was, but if it was anything, it was the barista's eyes.  
If this was grey, Arthur was okay with it. If it took drinking coffee to taste colour, he would do it every day.  
His nametag said Alfred.  
Arthur thought maybe angel was more fitting.

“Oh, yes, ah,” Arthur’s hand gravitated to his mouth pensively.  
Alfred lowered his gaze endearingly.

“What do you have that’s black but sweet?” Arthur gestured, “Maybe with milk? Not too sweet though, don’t give me any of that rubbish with whipped cream in it.” 

The barista laughed, and Arthur wondered what was so funny.  
Maybe when your world was a little brighter and more colorful anything could be funny.

Arthur scoffed. Though Alfred was perhaps two shades away from grey, the rest of the shop, the city, and the world was still black.

“Here, I take you as a cinnamon guy,” Alfred smirked. Lucky guess. “I’ve got a good idea, and I think you’ll love this- it’ll have you seeing colors you didn’t know existed.”

Now this made Arthur laugh. Little did Alfred know that to Arthur, no colour existed. 

“Don’t laugh!” Alfred yelled from the back, grinding and mixing whatever it was he was going to have Arthur drink and pay for. That just made Arthur laugh harder.

“Here, meanie,” He stuck out his tongue at Arthur and Arthur quelled his giggles.  
Across the counter, Alfred held his coffee.  
Arthur reached for the mug.

Inadvertently. Tentatively. Their hands brushed together.

And like a wave of water crashed down on him in the ocean, swept him far away from shore, and all he could taste was salt, Arthur saw colour.  
More than just colour, the air was sweeter. The sun was brighter. The world was far, far lovelier than Arthur remembered.  
Alfred’s eyes were a sharper blue than Arthur ever imagined existed. He ran to the window and sucked in the sky. Almost the same as Alfred’s eyes. The plants on the ground! They were green! And so many more colours, yellow, blue, lavender- words that once had no value. He felt like weeping! It was all so beautiful, the sepia of the bricks, the honey of the tables and chairs in this cafe. The pink of his fingertips and Alfred’s lips.

“Alfred!” Arthur gasped, moving back to grab his hand again. “Alfred, I can see it! I can see colour!” 

“Yeah,” Alfred smiled, tears pricking at his beautiful blue eyes. “Somehow, I knew. That dour, grumpy face has been in my mind for a while,” he laughed.

“But I’ve never seen you before?” Arthur questioned, shaking his head as Alfred’s voice broke, tears of joy flowing down his face.

“Kiku has pictures of you,” Alfred explained, and more and more the colour of his cheeks, the blue of his eyes, the gold of his hair, the rainbow of Alfred captivated Arthur who thought he would never see colour. 

“I thought you were pretty cute then, but you’re so much better in color.  
Your eyes are the most beautiful shade of green.”

**Author's Note:**

> i was really excited to write this and really enjoyed it. thanks for reading! -  
> sam  
> last edit: 1/30/17.


End file.
